by Jon Mayhew
‘I’m fine, thanks,’ Dakkar panted with a grin. ‘So glad you were worried about my safety,’ he added as the tiny reptile landed on his head and rested its wings.
Dakkar surged forward, cutting through the water with a powerful stroke, and soon his feet found the sandy seabed. Within a few minutes, he threw himself on to the beach that skirted the sea. The jungle stood a few paces away but even from here he could see the tower rising upward, sheer and menacing.
The one advantage I have now is that Cryptos thinks I’m dead, he thought, chewing his lip.
He picked himself up from the sand and trudged to the fringes of the jungle, scanning this way and that for any would-be predators. Gweek had fallen silent, content to sit on his shoulder and preen his scaly skin with his sharp beak.
The same eerie quiet hung over this part of the jungle. A few smaller lizards skittered up tree trunks and the odd bird-like creature hopped above Dakkar in the branches but the rest of the wildlife kept to the deeper forest.
Dakkar’s foot crunched against something and he leapt back, stifling a yell. His foot had sunk into the ribcage of a human skeleton. Pulling a face, he glanced around. Several bodies had lain here, all dressed in Cryptos uniforms, but now only bleached bone and filthy fabric remained. They had been shot in the head, judging by the holes broken in the skulls. Maybe this was one of Cryptos’s own executions, Dakkar thought.
The uniforms looked intact. Dakkar pursed his lips then pulled at one of the jackets. The skeleton fell apart, desiccated by the sun. He shook the jacket, spluttering in the disgusting dust cloud that enveloped him. Gweek gave a squawk and fluttered up to the lowest branches.
It might just fit me, he thought. And if I can clean it up I might just trick my way back into the tower.
Washing the uniform jacket in the salty seawater seemed to clear the soil and other stains from it quite effectively. Dakkar scrambled up a conifer and hung it on a branch to dry. He lay back in the crook of the branch, his back against the trunk, and stared at the tower.
I wonder what’s happened to Mary, he thought. And what is Georgia up to? If she really had gone over to Cryptos, then she would have given Stefan the Liberty.
Even the crowding thoughts couldn’t stop sleep from creeping up on him. A gentle breeze from the sea sighed through the needles of the tree, making it sway gently to the rhythm of the waves. Soon he was dreaming that he lay on the deck of the Nautilus with the sun warming his face.
Dakkar woke with a start. Something scratched at his cheek. He waved his hand in the air and rubbed his eyes simultaneously, causing him to overbalance. The ground loomed up at him for a moment and he only just managed to stop himself from falling.
Gweek flapped around his head, fussing and croaking at him. Dakkar shook himself. How long have I been asleep? he thought. It was so difficult to tell in this night-less world.
He extended his arm and Gweek settled on to it. Dakkar smiled and tickled its neck. The skin felt surprisingly soft, like kid leather.
‘You’re still here?’ he said, grinning at Gweek.
Dakkar checked the guard’s jacket, smiling when he realised how dry it was. The exposure to the salt water and the sea breeze had shrunk the fabric so that it fitted him quite snugly. His trousers looked rather ragged but with the tricorne hat he spied in the undergrowth pulled down low on his brow he might just get away with it.
Checking the ground for any concealed pits, Dakkar inched his way to the edge of the jungle and watched. A few squadrons of riders appeared, dragging giants tied at the wrists. One came close to the fringes of the forest, their prisoners stumbling – and flinching at the lashes they received as a result. The leader of the group had a round, ruddy face and one blind, milky eye.
‘Get them moving!’ he bellowed at the men, who whipped and prodded the poor giants. ‘I’ve been out of the tower too long. I need some beer!’
At the very rear of the group, a four-legged reptile with a strange beak and a frilled plate round its head pulled a small cart. The reptile slowed to a stop and its driver jumped off the cart to push the beast’s rump as if he could move it.
Dakkar stuffed Gweek under his tricone hat, pulled it down and ran from the bushes to join the breathless driver, who nodded gratefully.
‘Thank ’ee,’ said the driver. ‘Where did you spring from?’
‘Was fixin’ some pit traps in the forest,’ Dakkar lied, lowering his voice. ‘I saw you needed help.’
‘That’s the truth,’ the driver spat. ‘This bloomin’ beast ’as been playin’ up all day!’
Dakkar noticed the strange spiky fruit that comprised the cart’s load. They reminded him of pineapples but they were black and had much broader leaves. He winked at the driver and pulled one from the pile.
‘Maybe we can bribe him,’ Dakkar said, moving to the front of the beast.
‘They’re not for animals,’ the driver said, but then he noticed that the reptile was moving again as Dakkar held it a few inches ahead.
‘I won’t tell if you don’t.’ Dakkar grinned and handed the pineapple to the driver, who took over leading the creature.
Dakkar followed behind the cart, hidden from the view of the others by the pile of fruit and the bulk of the struggling giants. He desperately wanted to free them but knew only too well that in doing so he would give himself away. He had to play along and get inside the stockade. Only then could he help.
The stockade walls drew nearer and Dakkar’s heart thumped in his chest. He prayed that Gweek would keep still and silent under his hat.
The bleached, barren plain they crossed to get to the tower reminded Dakkar of a desert, except now and then they passed a gurgling hole in the earth which steamed and boiled.
As they drew closer, Dakkar could see how crude the wall was. Tree trunks had been sharpened and buried into the ground to form the tall barrier. A double gate swung open to allow the party through. Two black-clad guards stood, rifles in the crook of their arms, watching everything.
A fruit tumbled from the pile and Dakkar stooped to pick it up as the cart approached the gates.
‘Stop,’ said the nearest guard as the cart rolled on, exposing Dakkar. The guard levelled his rifle and stared at Dakkar.
He’d been caught.
Chapter Twenty-four
Caught
Dakkar froze, the sweat trickling down his back. He raised his hands, the fruit still in one, trying to decide if it felt heavy enough to use as a weapon.
‘You missed one,’ the guard said, laughing and pointing at another fruit on the ground at his feet. ‘Don’t waste any! Them pineapple things are about the tastiest dish in these parts.’
‘Yeah.’ The guard’s partner sauntered over and poked the fruit with the toe of his boot. ‘I’ll have one o’ them over fried reptile any day!’
‘Maybe you might want to rescue that one when I’ve passed,’ Dakkar said, keeping his head down. ‘Nobody will know.’
The guards looked at each other and then at the fruit he held.
‘You might sort of drop that one too,’ the first guard said. ‘By accident.’
The fruit in Dakkar’s hand thumped to the ground and he strode in through the gates as the two guards bent to pick the fruit up. He allowed himself a smile at the thought that he’d just wandered through Cryptos’s front gates without any real problem. Dakkar lifted his hat slightly and allowed Gweek to flutter out and land on his shoulder.
Buildings and drill squares filled up the space between the stockade and the tower walls. A series of large iron cages held reptiles that hissed and snapped at each other through the bars. A corral fenced in more docile herbivorous creatures the size of rhinos but with bony armour plating and many horns. Men hurried about, carrying bales of hay or pushing barrows of provisions. Carts loaded with barrels trundled past and, in the bustle, Dakkar went unnoticed.
Grabbing an empty basket, Dakkar began walking around the base of the tower, looking for a sign of weakness, anything he
could use to his advantage. The blocks of stone that supported the tower stood as tall as Dakkar. He could imagine the giants heaving them into position, friendly and cooperative at first, helping their friend Stefan. Then, gradually, as his demands grew they would have left only to be dragged back as slaves. The tower’s walls stretched ahead of him; its foundations had to be broad and deep, he guessed, to support such a height.
Barred windows carved out of the stone appeared in the walls at ground level. Dakkar recognised them as the windows to the cells in which he had met Bonaparte. He strolled past them, swinging his basket casually and glancing down through the bars of each window as he went.
Glum faces gazed up, many of them giants huddled together. Women and children stared with hopeless expressions, dirt smearing their faces. In other cells, savage reptiles leapt up and bit at the bars, hissing and making Dakkar jump back. Finally, he came to a quiet cell, with a silent figure sitting in the corner. Dakkar knelt down close to the bars, pretending to tie his shoelace. Gweek gave a squawk of protest and fluttered on to Dakkar’s head.
‘Your excellency?’ Dakkar hissed. ‘Is it you? Can you speak to me?’
‘Dakkar?’ Bonaparte’s pale face appeared at the window. ‘I thought you were dead!’
‘Nearly,’ Dakkar whispered. ‘I haven’t much time. The count is moving his reptile cavalry to the surface.’
‘These are the preparations for battle,’ Bonaparte said, craning his neck and watching the men hurrying about behind Dakkar. ‘Cryptos will want a confrontation with all the world powers, somewhere he can face the massed armies of Europe and their generals and so annihilate them.’
‘We can stop him before that happens,’ Dakkar said, ‘if I can destroy the top of the tower and cut off their supply chain.’
‘I fear too many of his troops may be up there already,’ Napoleon said with a sigh. Then a grin spread slowly across his face. ‘I suppose a little chaos might slow things down.’
‘I’ll try to sneak in and free you –’ Dakkar began, but Bonaparte held up a hand.
‘No,’ he said. ‘First you need a distraction. Many of the men are absorbed in their duties. Over there,’ Napoleon said, pointing a finger beyond Dakkar to a square stone building, ‘that is where they store their gunpowder and weapons. I have watched them for many days. They are taking barrels of explosive up to the top of the tower.’
‘If I blow that storehouse up they’ll be busy dealing with that,’ Dakkar said. ‘I can get in and rescue you.’
‘It may be worth a try,’ Napoleon said. He tugged at the bars as if he could pull them apart and climb out. ‘I’ll stay here.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘Bon chance, mon ami!’
Dakkar jumped up and marched over to the square stone building that stood at the fringe of the stockade. It had no windows and only one door. Solid stone slabs covered the top of the building, making it look like some ancient tomb. Clearly any explosion inside the building would be easily contained. Dakkar cursed under his breath.
‘Don’t just stand there, lad,’ snapped a curt voice behind him. ‘Grab a barrel if you’ve got time to idle away!’
Gweek gave a startled croak and Dakkar spun round to see the ruddy-faced guard who had led the giants into the tower before. He shoved a small barrel of powder into Dakkar’s open arms, making him stagger backward.
‘Here’s me just come off a two-day patrol. No time for a rest,’ the man muttered, stamping off towards the tower wall. ‘Every man to his post.’
The man spat on the ground and continued grumbling, but Dakkar wasn’t listening any more. He watched as they joined a procession of men who stacked barrel after barrel into an Ascender Cage. This one ran up the outside of the tower and was a completely enclosed box made of copper. Rails set into a deep recess ran up the side of the tower.
‘Does that go up to the very top?’ Dakkar gasped in wonder.
‘Course it does, and the count is up there gettin’ bellyache because we’ve fallen behind with sendin’ the powder up, so get movin’!’ the grumpy, red-faced guard barked at him.
They stacked their barrels and Dakkar sprinted back to the huge metal door of the powder store, where a guard and a tall, thin man with a bundle of papers stood arguing.
‘I don’t know where we’re up to,’ the thin man said, throwing his hands up and dropping half the papers. ‘Your men are just grabbing anything and stuffing it into the ascender.’
‘I’ll stuff you in the ascender in a min–’ the burly guard snapped.
‘Sorry to interrupt, sirs,’ Dakkar panted, pretending to be out of breath. ‘The count wants to know where the fuses are.’
‘Fuses?’ the thin man said, going pale and flicking through his sheets. ‘But I thought we . . .’
‘Ten-minute fuses,’ Dakkar said. He widened his eyes. ‘Please, sir, have pity. Don’t send me back without them. The count, he’s in a proper rage . . .’
‘Is he?’ The thin man went even paler and swallowed hard. ‘Come with me.’
Dakkar followed the man into the cool shadows of the storehouse. Their footsteps echoed in what was essentially a man-made cave, a huge hall built to store weapons. Even half emptied the place looked crowded with barrels cluttering the floor, shelves stacked with sacks and racks full of rifles.
The man stopped at a chest of drawers and pulled open a drawer with a number 10 on it. He emptied the contents into Dakkar’s hands.
‘Thank you,’ Dakkar said, scarcely believing his luck. He turned to leave.
‘Wait!’ the man said.
Dakkar’s stomach lurched. He turned to face the man.
‘You may as well take some tinderboxes too,’ the man said. ‘Maybe the count will be lenient on us all if he thinks we’ve used our initiative.’
‘I’m sure he will, sir,’ Dakkar said, smiling and pocketing the boxes.
‘Go on, then. Run, lad,’ the thin man said, clapping his hands. ‘We wouldn’t want to upset the count, would we?’
‘No, sir,’ Dakkar said, grinning as he turned his back on the thin man.
Dakkar gripped the fuses and ran back to the ascender, which was virtually full now.
‘I’ll take her up,’ Dakkar shouted.
The guard holding the ascender doors, who looked rather like a gorilla in uniform, jutted his hairy chin. ‘Says who?’ he murmured, frowning with deep, bushy eyebrows.
‘I’m smaller than you,’ Dakkar said. ‘We can fit another barrel in. The count will be astounded by your quick thinking.’
‘He will?’ the gorilla guard said, giving a brown-toothed grin.
‘He’ll be totally amazed,’ Dakkar said, pushing his way into the cage and edging the guard out.
‘Well, if you think so,’ the gorilla said.
‘Here, hold this,’ Dakkar said, snatching Gweek out of the air and stuffing it into the gorilla’s huge hand.
‘Oh, righto,’ the gorilla said, frowning at the tiny flying reptile that pecked at his thumb. ‘Be sure to let him know it was my idea!’
‘Certain to, sir.’ Dakkar gave an exaggerated salute, implying immediate promotion.
The gorilla puffed his chest out, saluted back and clanged the doors shut.
A half-light filled the box of the ascender. Dakkar knew they used copper as it was hard to strike a spark on and thus safe for transporting explosives. Without waiting, he pulled the bungs out of two barrels of powder then he took the fuse and twisted it into the holes. Dakkar fumbled with the lid of the tinderbox. What if I strike the spark and blow myself to pieces?
‘Are you all right in there?’ the gorilla outside called, banging on the door.
‘I can’t find the handle,’ Dakkar lied as he struck a spark into the soft linen fibre in the tinderbox. A small flame flickered into life. ‘Left or right?’
The gorilla paused for a moment. ‘It’s on the side – left, I think.’
Dakkar pushed the fuse wire into the flame and it hissed into life.
‘Got it!’ Dakkar y
elled back, slamming the ascender’s lever up.
The cage rattled into life and Dakkar stayed low, throwing himself forward. The cage doors burst open and Dakkar tumbled out at the gorilla’s feet. The gorilla stared down at him, mouth open. Gweek wriggled from his grasp and fluttered out of reach, screeching indignantly.
‘What’re you doin’ there?’ the gorilla spluttered. ‘Who’ll stop the cage at the top?’
‘Oh, it’ll stop all right,’ Dakkar said, standing up and dusting himself down. ‘You keep looking up there and you’ll see.’
The gorilla lifted his head, jaw still gaping.
Dakkar gave a grin and turned round to leave.
‘Not so fast, Prince Dakkar,’ a familiar voice called. Count Stefan Oginski stood, flanked by Georgia and Mary Anning. ‘I thought I’d killed you already but this time I will make certain of it.’
Chapter Twenty-five
Chaos Reigns
The gorilla shoved Dakkar against the cold stone wall of the tower. The count strode up to Dakkar, snatching a rifle from a nearby guard. Several more guards formed a semicircle around Dakkar, their guns drawn. Gweek flew above Dakkar’s head in confusion.
‘I don’t know how you survived that fall,’ the count said through gritted teeth, ‘but this time I’m going to shoot you myself.’
Dakkar looked from Georgia to Mary. ‘So you’re going to watch him kill me?’
‘I’ve explained to Mary how it is,’ Georgia said carefully. ‘You had a chance but you threw it away.’
‘He threw me off the tower!’ Dakkar snapped. ‘I hardly had much of a chance.’
‘You could have joined me,’ the count said. He clicked back the lock on the rifle and strode a few paces away.
‘Wait!’ Georgia shouted. ‘We need to know what he’s done, surely.’
‘He was up to no good in that ascender,’ Mary added. She pointed to the gorilla. ‘Ask ’im.’
‘He didn’t even know where the lever was to start the thing,’ scoffed the gorilla. Then he frowned. ‘He did jump out smartish though!’